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30 July 2011

Royal Fashion Awards: Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall's Wedding

My favorite Twitter hashtag for this event has been #BigFatScottishWedding. There's no better summary of this perfectly royal non-royal affair. We've got new clothes, old clothes, hat madness, players going rogue, and awards galore:

Best Repeat

The Duchess of Cambridge

As predicted by everyone (give the reader to your right a pat on the back), Kate repeated yet again today. But if you're gonna repeat, this is the way to do it: we've seen this before, more than once, but not so recently as to smack us with a case of déjà vu, and she's spiced it up with a new chapeau. A new chapeau that I love, by the way. But then again, I love anything that inches us closer to a proper hat and away from forehead-bolted fascinators. (P.S.: Yes, I do know some of these ladies and gents have Scottish titles. We're gonna keep it simple, though.)

Best Try

Princess Beatrice

Vibrant color: check. Excellent detailing: check. Shiny new outfit made special for your cousin's wedding: check. That usual Yorkie desire to reach in and tug the jacket for her: check. Upturned teacup hat: check with accompanying tears. Good try, though, Bea. (Interesting tidbit: both York girls were dressed for the day by Angela Kelly, the Queen's dresser and designer. Granny's solution to avoiding another airborne commode seat debacle?)

Worst Butt Bow

Princess Eugenie

It's like she saw how often you lot have been chatting about butt bows, and thought: "I'll show them!" Either that, or somebody's mum got hold of Ms. Kelly. Is this the biggest butt bow you've ever seen? Seriously, this can't be comfortable to sit in.

Best Explosion

The Duchess of Cornwall

Well, somebody had to bring the crazy in hat land. And this repeated detonation of prairie wildlife will do just fine. Really, though, she wore my favorite choker ever, so my hands are tied.

Worst Straight Jacket

Princess Anne

I see the beginnings of a kicky coral party dress under there...shame she topped it off with such an ill-fitting upholstery remnant. She does get extra cute points in the mother of the bride category: see her waving Zara and Mike off here. Awwww. Now, that's one proud mama.

Speaking of Autumn...this is just a business suit topped with a beach hat! It's like the wedding guest equivalent of what she did with her own wedding gown: business in front, bow in the back. Perfectly appropriate, but kind of sad at the same time.

Most Typical

Queen Elizabeth

Per usual, the Queen is classy and so forth. But: tremendously typical for such a special day. A second candidate for Autumn's prize, I feel.

Best Dressed

The Countess of Wessex

You guys, I think I'm developing a bit of a girl crush on Sophie here. She's my best dressed of the day, not just for her lovely pale pink ensemble with a hint of a sparkly party dress underneath, but for her overall efforts these past months. I'm loving it!

Best in Gents: Elder Generation

The Prince of Wales

Left to Right: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, Tim Laurence

I sort of love it when Prince Charles insists on marching to the beat of his own drummer and wearing his all-gray morning suit. Don't ask me why.

Well, they all look dashing, groom included. (With a special welcome to Princess Beatrice's boyfriend, Dave Clark, who was looking chummy enough this weekend to earn a spot amongst the royal men.) But come on...it's Harry.

Who made your best and worst dressed lists for Zara and Mike's wedding?